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Never before had the Enterprise been betrayed by its own technology. Never before had their systems, instruments and weapons failed to respond. And never before had Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the crew faced a total breakdown of science and sanity...until they stumbled on the mysterious world that couldn't exist...

Captain's log, stardate 6132.8: The crew's morale seems high in spite of the four-week detour. This morning's maneuvers went well; this afternoon Mr. Scott has a drill planned. I think we have been successful in promoting the feeling that the Enterprise is on vacation - rather than having been forced, by vagaries of scheduling, into a mission that a transport or scout could accomplish as easily.

I haven't yet met our supercargo, Dr. Atheling, other than formally welcoming him aboard ship. Mr. Spock speaks highly of his reputation in astrophysics, and several of the crew know him from Academy days.

By tomorrow the maintenance and training schedule should be complete; I look forward to meeting a man important enough to shanghai a month out of a heavy cruiser's schedule.

Captain's log, stardate 6133.4: We've just completed a detailed mapping of the planet Anomaly (so named by Lieutenant Commander Charvat), and have found no artifacts suggesting the planet is or ever was inhabited by intelligent beings.

Much of the land area of Anomaly is jungle, and the planet has a very active, almost Mesozoic, ecology. Its surface and seas are aswarm with creatures man-sized and larger, mostly quite aggressive. So I've selected both the landing site and the landing party with some care.

Captain's log, stardate 6133.6: Mr. Spock and Dr. Atheling agree that the failure of the transporter to work must be somehow allied with whatever forces allow Anomaly's microstar to exist. At any rate, it's now more important than ever that we investigate the planet's surface.

We will have to go down by shuttle, which is irregular but poses no real problem. I've added one person to the exploration team: EnsignFrost, an engineer and experienced pilot. Otherwise the team and landing site are the same as before.

Captain's log, stardate 6134.2: This is being recorded by Science Officer Spock, temporarily in command.

We are unable to communicate with Captain Kirk and his team, although they appear to have landed safely, and precisely at the selected location.

It seems unlikely that Captain Kirk would have long remained on the surface of the planet, once it was plain that he could not communicate with the Enterprise. Therefore, either he and the crew are dead or disabled, or the shuttlecraft is unable to lift. When our orbit brings us again over the landing site, Mr. Sulu will determine by biosensor whether they are alive.

Since the translator, communicators, and shuttle engine are mutually independent systems, the probability of all of them malfunctioning at the same time is vanishingly small. The inescapable conclusion is that they have been influenced by some outside meta-system.